Professional Art Space
I’m a fan of Lifehacker’s ‘This Is How I Work.’ They are generally brief articles describing a person’s work environment. Well, I am Patrick Dew and this is how I work.
Other than being an ‘emerging, contemporary artist – from Cleveland,’ I am a Senior Graphic Designer/Art Director. My work environment, in the graphic web world, comes down to two things: my HP Slim Elite keyboard and my Microsoft wireless mouse. I can probably do most of my job on a discounted Walmart laptop in a Starbucks. No amount of technology really impacts me more than my comfort level and obsession over comfortable peripherals. RAM, processor power, dual monitors are certainly handy, but no gadgets/power make my life any better or easier.
Art, Space: Artspace
What about my art space? The non-graphic, non-coder work area might be full of more technology for what is essentially a hard-copy, analogue product. For my every day, I use a Chromebook and my Android phone. Primarily for promotion, it’s still essential. My nights are spent tweeting, posting to Instagram and writing blog articles such as this. The phone and Chromebook combination allows that to happen fast. I have to get it in when I can: writing during lunch, posting while I wait for downloads at work, Instagramming while I play with my dog. I can do lightweight image processing. I do keep a sketchbook, but not much of one. I hate it. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I’m a fan of ‘Idea’ books, and the Chromebook has that covered.
For my heavy lifting I have a massive workstation and an interactive pen display (a knockoff of a Cintiq) which I don’t use nearly enough. I also have a projector, another computer, various digital cameras and lights beyond imagining.
Where is all this? Well, it’s everywhere. It’s in my go bag, my basement and garage. If there’s space I try to work there. I claim as much of it as I can. Maybe an old habit from undergrad, when I was doing large works without a dedicated space. Nothing can be permanent; everything has to be ready to move.
paper, ink, charcoal, floor
The tech, maybe all for naught: at some point in time these digital screens must go black, leaving a piece of paper/wood, ink and a cleared space on the floor | low-fi, hand to paper, ink on my face & charcoal in my nose.